Dear Loved Ones,
It is getting real! We are less than 2 months away from finishing our mission here in Thailand! There is so much left that we want to do and our calendar is already filling up with all of our lasts, and some firsts!
It was a crazy, busy week. But what else is new? This past week, we went to Sea Life and the Wax Museum in Bangkok, got ready for transfer, departing, and arrivals day, played pickleball, made cookies, and had some patriarchal blessings.
Without further adieu, let me jump right to the pictures!
But first, know that we love you and miss you and thank you for your love, prayers, support, and kind words!
With love,
Elder and Sister Brady (mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, John and Shelly, and so on)
I have been wanting to check this place out. And I figured it would be a perfect place to go on a rainy Saturday - (rare) Pday for us!
We weren't sure if we would actually go into the aquarium, especially after we saw how much it cost!
But we hopped on the sky train and headed over to Paragon Siam Mall,
where Sea Life Bangkok is located.
I love the architecture here in Thailand! The buildings, the fountains, the beauty!
Well, we made it inside the building and saw that the "best" price was a package deal that included: the aquarium, a glass bottom boat ride, a snack from concessions, a 4D movie, and Madame Trousseau's Wax Museum! But it was 1700 Baht a person. Which would be about $101 USD for the two of us! We went to the ticket counter to see if they had a Senior Discount, but instead found out we could get the local Thai rate with our Thai driver's licenses! Woohoo! It saved us around $40 USD, so we had to do it!
Giant Lobster!
Sea Dragons!
Giant Humans in Life Jackets!
Glass Bottom Boat tour! SHARK!!
Another Shark!
Bowmouth Guitar Fish! Also known as a Shark Ray!
Where is Nemo?
Giant boy in Orange Cap!
We took a break and had a video chat with our Son, Kevin! He thinks it is funny to greet his dad in his Orange Work Cap! It gets a laugh every time!
Which one is Elder Brady?
Our "free" snack! We each got a popcorn and a soda! John got buttered popcorn and I got a mix of caramel and buttered! It was pretty delicious!
I spy us!
Jelly Fish!
Jelly Fish are so cool!
But you don't want to get stung by one!
This looks like the Jelly Fish that stung poor Michelle when we went to Phuket last April.
Largetooth Sawfish!
Bowmouth Guitarfish - again :)!
Lunch time for the Sharks!
I loved watching this little boy watch the penguins!
John and the Sea Life Mascot!
Lunch in the mall! I haven't had Subway in ages and it just sounded good today. John had already ordered his lunch, so I went next door to buy a sandwich. It turns out there was a promotion, so I got the second sandwich free. Lucky me!
We decided to head up to the 4th floor to the Wax Museum and on our up we saw this Swiss Chocolate shop! We had to go in! They gave us a sample and it was out of this world! There were no prices anywhere to be seen. I picked up a little package of chocolate and on the bottom was a price tag. It was 2575 Baht for a small package of Chocolate!!!! That is $76 USD!!!! I tried not to RUN out of the store!
After we realized that the Wax Museum was actually down the street, we went back down to the aquarium and watched the 4D movie. It was definitely a children's cartoon, but it was cute and we paid for it, so we went. My favorite part was listening to this little boy behind us giggle and laugh through the whole movie! It makes us miss our grandchildren!
After the movie, we headed down the block to Icon Discovery, where the Wax Museum is located.
I met the queen!
And I met Einstein!
John bent it like Beckham!
Afterwards, he gave some tips to Tiger.
I did some heavy weight lifting!
I had a moment with Brad Pitt.
John got a good laugh or two posting this picture on his Facebook page! Haha!
Saturday afternoon, I headed to the mall to get some groceries and they had a dinosaur exhibit outside!
There is always something fun going on in Bangkok!
Sunday after church, we had the opportunity to meet Kennedy from Uganda. He was so grateful to receive his patriarchal blessing. He is such a nice young man and plans to serve a mission soon.
We also meet Bonne Pi from Myanmar. He was so excited to receive his blessing. He is such a joy and we are grateful to have these two new friends!
Sunday late afternoon, I needed to make some cookies. So I did.
Monday. The temple has been closed for a couple of weeks. During this time cleaning inside and out takes place. These are some of the new plants that have just been put in.
Monday evening we watched general conference. We plan to watch a little each night this week and finish up this weekend. In Thailand, because of the time difference, the weekend after general conference is set aside for viewing. We are getting a head start!
Tuesday for lunch, we headed to the Emsphere Mall with the Calls.
For IKEA Meatballs! Yay!
John and I had to do some shopping to set up a room in The Address Condo next door. Yes, the name of the Condo next door is, The Address. Our replacements, the Barbers, who arrive in 5 and 1/2 weeks, will be living there. Since John is over housing, we need to get all those important things like plates, utensils, vacuum, toaster, and so on in the apartment. It was fun to shop at IKEA for them. We finished the shopping off with an IKEA ice cream cone!
On our walk back to the train, we enjoyed this fashion show!
I am not sure what to say about these styles.
I love the beautiful orchids!
I spy an interesting store! Gentle Monster!
Pickleball Tuesday night!!!!
It was so much fun!! John had not slept well, so he did not join us! Hopefully he will next time!
Look who was visiting John when I got done with pickleball!!
Henry Felt! Former Elder Felt! It was so good to see him! I can't believe he left Thailand a year ago!!
Tuesday night Conference! John is getting us some cookies from the freezer!
Wednesday afternoon, goodbye to Elder Sevilla! He was the Branch President in Rayong, back when we were going almost every weekend! We will miss him!
Also Wednesday afternoon! The IKEA order arrived so we headed to The Address and delivered some of the goods we had purchased!
We made up the bed!
We took a picture of their beautiful view.
Hello! I sent all the pictures to the Barbers so they could get an idea of what their new place would look like!
Thursday afternoon! Good bye Sister Zabala! We will miss you!
Thanks for the selfie Sister Brown and Sister Furlan! I love when I get these mysterious photos on my phone! Sister Brown is getting transferred out of Bangkok! We will miss her!
But Sister Furlan is staying! We are glad!
Goodbye Elder Htoo! We will miss you!
Elder Htoo will be staying in Thailand, so hopefully we will see him around! We got to know him when we first got here and taught English Connect, then we got to know him even more when he was assigned to serve in Bangkok Sister Zabala heads back to the Philippines. She had visa delays and spent the first 9 months of her mission in the Philippines and then spent about 9 months in Thailand! We are glad she finally made it to Thailand! And we are glad she served in Rayong! We have loved getting to know her!
Friday morning - it is time for transfer morning breakfast! While John was off getting the Patongko (Thai Donuts) and the Calls were picking up the Moo Bing, I got the fruit and juice ready!
Up in the mission home, I had to get a picture with Elder Myers, who looks exactly like our grandson, Dawson (Kevin's boy).
It's time to announce the companionships! This is a fun part of transfer/new arrival morning! The missionaries greet the new arrivals and surprise them with who their trainers will be! Lots of cheers, applause, and hugs!
Afterwards, we head out to the balcony for pictures! This is Elder Muir and his new arrival, Elder Tieman. They will both be in Rayong. Even though we don't get there as often as we used to, it still feels like it is our church congregation, our little branch.
All of our new missionaries!
Time for training. These jetlagged missionaries just arrived in Thailand around 12 hours ago, but they are doing their best to stay engaged and awake!
This funny video about staying healthy helps!
Elder Brady gives his housing presentation.
Smile everyone! You have all successfully made it through orientation!
Back up to the mission home balcony for a picture with all of the newly arrived missionaries an their companions and our mission leaders!
Friday afternoon, after spending all morning doing transfer activities (breakfast, orientation, pictures, lunch), we head back to the office to do tons of reports and a long list of things that need to get done on this particular busiest day of every transfer. John went on line and noticed that three new names were in our patriarchal blessing system. I reached out to them to find out when they would be in Bangkok. About a half hour later, we got a call informing us that they would be heading back to India (leaving for the airport) at 5pm today. It was around 2:30pm when we got this call. We quickly reached out to Elder Merkley, another patriarch who just moved to Thailand. Everyone scrambled. Elder Merkley said he could bless the mother and father. Elder Brady was able to bless the daughter. Elder Brady headed upstairs to get prepared. At 3:45pm I went downstairs and got the family. We brought them upstairs, took a group photo in front of the temple and then separated for the blessings. The picture above is the Merkleys, the Siraparapu family, and us.
This is Shalini. She is 18 years old and plans to serve a mission soon. She was so grateful to receive her blessing. She said that she and her mother cried and prayed after she talked to us, because at first we responded that we did not know if it would be possible to give them their blessings with such little notice. When I messaged her back moments later telling her we would be able to, with the help of the Merkleys, make it work, she and her mother cried tears of joy. It was a very special experience.
Friday evening, we collapsed after a busy, long, exhausting, wonderful week!
We only have 8 weeks and 2 days left.
Only one full transfer left.
Until next week...thanks for reading!
